Friday Apple Rumors: Low iPhone 5 Supply Hurting Sales

by Christopher Freeburn | October 5, 2012 2:28 pm

[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

Not Enough to Meet Demand: Sales of Apple‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) may be limited by supply issues[4], according to AllThingsD. The newest iPhone hit store shelves two weeks ago, but online shipping estimates remain stuck at three to four weeks. Low inventories of iPhone 5’s have also been noted at some Apple outlets. The supply problems are prompting analysts to trim their sales predictions for Apple’s flagship phone. Piper Jaffray (NYSE:PJC[5]) analyst Gene Munster has lowered his September iPhone sales forecast by 2.2 million units after finding inventories of the iPhone 5 “extremely limited” at Apple Stores. He now expects the company to have sold 25 million iPhones in September. Munster has, however, reiterated his projection of 49 million iPhone sales during the final quarter of the year, which includes the holiday shopping season.

Downsizing: While smartphone screen sizes have been getting steadily larger — with even Apple’s new iPhone 5 sporting a bigger 4-inch screen — Samsung may take a step back[6], AppleInsider says. The South Korean electronics giant is reportedly preparing to introduce a “Galaxy S III Mini” smartphone on October 11. The current Galaxy S III phone has a 4.8-inch display. There was no word on exactly how small the Mini version’s screen would be, but the smaller-screen smartphone is expected to feature a 5-megapixel camera and run Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG[7]) Android 4.1 Jelly bean operating system.

Store Help Wanted: Apple is asking the staff members at some of its retail stores to help it improve iOS 6’s Maps app[8], MacRumors notes. Stores involved will set aside 40 hours a week for employees to review the data in the Maps app, checking for errors and adding information. The company has about 400 retail stores in multiple countries, employing about 40,000 workers. Apple released the new Maps app two weeks ago to a chorus of complaints from Apple users over glitches and cartographic mistakes in the program. The new app was developed in-house after Apple surprised Google by dumping its Maps app from the back-end of iOS 6 earlier this year. Shortly after the release, CEO Tim Cook responded to consumer complaints and apologized for the app’s failure to live up to Apple standards. Apple has also been attempting to hire former Google employees with Maps experience to upgrade the new app.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[9] stories.